Wednesday, April 04, 2007

A holy moment

I left my house this morning for my usual run. It's cold here today, well colder than it has been, and my legs felt tight, so I thought, "I'll walk. No, I'll saunter this morning." The first thing I noticed is that the sky was that gorgeous color of blue when the sun's light first appears. Then I saw the nearly full moon. As I continued down the path, I saw that the river is very full right now. Normally, our river is a small trickle in an otherwise large and wide bed of sand. Right now it is a river. Then I heard a rustling noise in the brush along the river bank. Since it is not uncommon for people to sleep along that part of the river, I didn't bother to look at what was moving around. I kept sauntering. But on the way back, I heard it again and noticed there was a clearing in the brush wide enough to look down to the river bank. There is a ditch that leads down to the river at that point, and along the side of the ditch is a hole. I saw something moving just outside the hole. Very quickly I realized the movement was from a couple of baby foxes. The fox I saw on Sunday has a den along the river. I saw her run by in the background. She has at least three babies, maybe four, quite possibly five. I knelt and watched them play for a long time this morning. Two of the babies even ran up the river bank and stared at me for awhile.

And right there, as I watched those foxes play, I cried. They are so beautiful....

Don't you all want to visit me here? Come on over. I live in the smallish sort of southern, sort of midwestern city, by the river, just two minutes from downtown, and about a half mile from the fox den. I'll leave the light on.

8 comments:

JM said...

baby foxen! that's outstanding.

What Now? said...

I must say that your descriptions of your new city have done a lot to redeem the state for me. Previously, I associated the state only with the fact that my parents grew up there (in the major university city in the state) and that my grandparents still lived there as I grew up, so we made lots of visits, always in the worst heat of the summer or the ice of the winter. And since almost everyone I knew there was eventually in their 60s/70s and very ill, it was also the state of duty-visits and of funerals. So I've been delighted by your stories that show me a different side!

jo(e) said...

Baby fox! Oh, what a great walk.

I'll come visit, for sure.

Scrivener said...

What fun!

APStraight said...

Wonderful...

Thinking about you as you interview....

Iris said...

That is a holy moment during holy week! It's interesting to me that your institution would choose this week for interviewing. I hope that it goes well.

SassyFemme said...

Oh my gosh, what an amazing experience!

Marie said...

Count me in!